Horses are the partners to man and for centuries have helped him through war and work and to settle new lands, indeed to survive. Without the horse, we would have been walking from the east coast to California and Alaska and it would have taken generations longer to accomplish settling the US. Without horses to haul logs and plow fields and herd cattle, we would have had to work immeasurably harder to get where we were aiming to go.

Imagine: you walk from Massachusetts to Oklahoma, carrying your belongings and dragging a cart behind you (very small by the way since a human has much less pulling ability than an horse). Once there, you are granted land by the government, 160 acres of land to be worked, to be your homestead. If you didn't have a family of a dozen or more able hands and strong backs you would not be able to do much with that land at all. You might not even be able to survive.

Even with a large family to do all the work of farming, a horse would have made success in your new homestead possible rather than a life of backbreaking work. Not to say our pioneers (who certainly benefitted from partnership with the horse) did not have hard lives with lots of hard work. The point is that the horse made it bearable, do-able, allowed them to not only work the farm but ride the 25 miles to town on Sunday for church or for a doctor when needed or for supplies from the general store. How would that have been accomplished without horses?

So, the point is: horses are man's partners through the ages. Given this special partner relationship they have had with man, this species DESERVES our kindness and protection and some status in return for all they have given us. Tottenham points out in an earlier comment:

This is an animal that has daily hands on contact with people ... for most of its life, a horse is a pet, loved, cared for, praised, baby talked to, and one that responds by doing the work asked of it. Then one day, because ... our income drops... too old to be ridden, it gets demoted to livestock. Suddenly its only value is dollars per pounds of meat? Would you do that to your dog?

How can it be any more clear, the differences, the special nature of the bond between man and horse? How can it be any more clear that if we do not condone treating our dogs in this way (slaughter), that it's ludicrous to think we should condone it for our horses, especially after all they have given us over the ages?

Are horses animals, or human beings?

Because unless it's a story about human beings being killed for meat, I'm suspicious that this is about clicks, not meals.

And I'm a vegetarian, to boot. But forget it. If you're not nauseated by killing a chicken or a sheep, why would you care about what happens to horses? Why?

I'm not nauseated by the killing of animals for meat. I just don't have a desire to eat them. Otherwise...who cares? Besides PETA, I guess?

Keep your dirty hands off my ostrich.

I feel strongly that slaughter for human consumption needs to be stopped, including transport for and export to slaughter. For ethical and moral reasons which I explained in a separate letter above as well for the simple reason of keeping food sources healthy.

Why on earth the ignorant Europeans and Asians choose to eat horse I'll never understand. If you ever own a horse, you know they are ALL regularly dosed with wormers, fly repellents and many other drugs (read up on racing). Why would anyone choose to eat meat that was contaminated? Each product has a skull/crossbones type of warning on the label : NOT FOR LIVESTOCK INTENDED FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. How can this be overlooked?

A lot of the problem of unwanted horses is caused by American breed registries like the American Quarter Horse Association which encourage indiscriminate breeding among their members (many other breeds doing the same, AQHA is just the biggest offender). There are backyard breeders that breed "mongrels", known as grade horses in equine vernacular. But those folks are not the main contributors to unwanted horses, it's the breeders of registered "purebreds" like AQHA, Arabian, Paints, Thoroughbreds and most of the rest of the breeds "made in America".

No wonder an association like AQHA supports slaughter. They provide zero oversight to the quality of the animals being created due to the marketing/competitive pressures applied to the owners by the registries themselves. They benefit from every single baby born as each is accepted for registration even if of the poorest quality. AQHA stallion fees start at $200 going to $500/$700 with a few top performing/winning studs getting $1K, $2K. High fees are the exception, the majority are in the mid to low hundreds.

Consequently a lot of junk is being bred. How convenient to dispose of all the culls through a payback program like slaughter! Slaughter actually PAYS indiscriminate breeders for overbreeding low quality animals for which there is no market - how disgusting.

Here's how many breed registries encourage rampant low quality breeding: strong promotion of futurities and $awards for "winning" 2 year old horses shown at horse shows. At 2 years old, horses should not even be ridden yet (bones not developed) but they do it anyway. These payback contests (buy into a pot, get a payback if your horse wins/places) entice the breeders to breed something, anything which they only have to raise for 2 years until their "big chance" at winning prize money in a futurity class. Don't breed, you can't play. Very much like the delusion of lottery dreams but horsey association style.

So many of those thousands of losers bred just for these contests, well, they're washed up by 2 ½ years old. A financial burden, they need to be "moved" so the uncaring breeder can breed a new baby and try again in 2 years. Some get new homes/careers but obviously not all. It's sick. Discarded before it's even mature, all to salve the futurity enticement originated by the sick breed associations.

European horse associations (warmbloods, type used in Olympic sports) encourage high quality by registering stallions only if they pass inspection and testing which is quite rigorous. In their system, low quality is never bred - they are gelded, mares kept unbred. Mares and babies are also required to be inspected, of high quality to obtain the highest grades and registration. This all to guide the breeders to highest quality results. All very logical based on physical traits, structure and physical abilities. Horses are never ready for significant awards until they are about 5 years old and the rewards not big money such as with the AQHA. So warmbloods breeders must make a larger investment in the animal (5 years versus 2) and they are obviously going to be much more careful about doing so wisely. Animals are bred with the intent to have full long working lives doing jumping, driving, dressage and not for the purpose of winning a 2 year baby horse pot of gold beauty contest.

The methods of stimulating high quality breeding goals in the European breed registries are FAR more than any US association does to manage quality. As a result, quality and stud fees are much higher. None of the American registries are interested in this approach because, duh, if they cut out registering thousands of poor quality babies each year, they take a financial hit. It's far easier and more lucrative to drum up baby horse futurity/lottery dreams, incite breeders to breed many babies and rake in the dough. Don't forget the registry gets hundreds in registration fee for each baby born! See why they accept everything that's presented for registration even if the animal is junk and should have never been bred? It's a sick system if you consider how it works. The horses are the victims. And most people outside the horse world don't have a clue how it works.

I love horses. I own horses. I wish someone with an ounce of brains, real knowledge of this industry and its issues along with real power would mandate real changes to the industry on many levels. From ending slaughter for meat, to forcing affordable humane euthanasia/disposal options, to stringent breeding guidelines, to humane treatment of young horses, to removal of all rewards for over breeding/low quality breeding. It could be done but I doubt many of these factions will willingly give up their "pie". Sick, just sick. Then again, why should any of that surprise? Humans show themselves to be sick and immoral more often than not.